SINS

In case you are uneducated on popular culture, SINS means "sorry I'm not sorry." Moral of the story, SINS that I have been MIA for about three weeks now. (In case you're an idiot, MIA means "missing in action.")

On that note, here comes what will likely be a very long and confusing update for all of our nonexistent followers.

After getting back from Washington at the end of May, I headed to Hot Springs for some quality time at the lake with the family. We spent a lot of time skiing, tubing, and chilling in the sun. Much to my surprise, I still remembered how to ski and got some great workouts in! I did however have a very unfortunate encounter with a very, very long garden snake that tried to join in on my afternoon hammock nap one day. On Labor Day we had a lovely guest: Michael Dabbs! I convinced Michael to try to ski too, which ended in lots of pain for him. SINS. Here's a picture:

After my brief stint in Arkansas, I drove over to Fort Worth for birthday dinner with the lovely Darcie Nicholson. Since she got to spend her actual birthday in London, we had to celebrate a little early. We met up with Andrea, Courtney, Marni, and Beth at Terra where we had an exceptionally good-looking waiter.

The next day, I met up with Darcie in Dallas at Northpark where we went to her wonderful hole-in-the-wall eyebrow shop. And, to no one's surprise, this is where things go downhill. (See I tricked you. You thought they ripped our eyebrows off and you were wrong.) Turns out, when I met Darcie in Dallas I was also planning on picking Trish up from the airport. Trish called to say she had landed right as we left Northpark, which meant I was already running slightly late. That meant that when I left the eyebrow joint to go retrieve her, I was a good hour late. And then, being the directionally challenged idiot that I am, I as usual got lost. Scratch that, lost is an understatement. I can't even think of the right word to describe this mishap. I went an hour the wrong direction, towards Plano, when I realized I needed to turn around. I got Trish around 4. No worries, she had landed at like 2. (Great friend Kathryn.) So, Trish and I leave the airport and made it back to Fort Worth in an hour.  

PSYCHE.

I got lost once again! We drove in circles, ended up back in Dallas, stopped at a gas station where I unintentionally shoplifted a drink (I went back to pay), went past Fort Worth, and eventually had to use a friend as a Garmin because my iPhone is apparently more directionally challenged than I am. Who knew that was even possible! Trish and I did make it to Fort Worth eventually. In the time it took us to make our little journey, we could have also driven to a beach or a desert or a mountain or the moon. I then preceded to have dinner with Beth Huddleston and her wonderful mother and then headed to bed to rest up for Frog Camp training.


Here's a map of the DFW Metroplex in case you are ever in this situation. Which is doubtful because most people know basic directional things (like left and right) by age twenty.

Since there is no way I can begin to describe Frog Camp in a short paragraph, I am going to head to bed and will update you on all things Horned Frog tomorrow. Let's just hope you're familiar with Bass Head and Harry Potter Dubstep.

I'm Just a Bill...

Whenever I go to Washington, a rather tragic thing happens: I get this School House Rock song stuck in my head. And it's not just a passing memory of my St. Mary's theater days. I actually walk around the House and Senate building singing this song out-loud, unaware that I am doing so! Talk about embarrassing moments. (I'm beginning to think they're the story of my life.)

So, what the heck was I doing in D.C.?

As many of you know, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in 5th grade at the age of 10. A 21-day visit at the hospital filled with needles and tests left me with news that changed my life forever. Throughout middle school, I was very sick. Steroids helped me heal, but did little to fix the actual problem. Luckily, I finally found Dr. Black who figured out a medicine combination that has worked miracles for me! I have had flare-ups more recently, in junior year of high school and spring semester last year, but I am in remission currently. Crohn's affects over 1.5 million Americans and is rising in prevalence. It is a digestive disease that varies greatly from patient to patient and has no known cause or cure. I have been very involved in efforts to raise awareness and support for the disease since I became involved with the CCFA 10 years ago! Part of my involvement stems from my position on the National Youth Leadership Council, a group of 20 college students who provide programming for the CCFA nationally. As a member, I also get to travel to D.C. once a year to do advocacy work on Capitol Hill.

All in all, Day on the Hill was incredible this year. I had the opportunity to lead a Parent's Forum, for parents of kids with IBD, with two of my best friends, Katherine and Ally. The session was extremely successful, much to our surprise, and the parents were incredibly interested in our stories and experiences. I was also very surprised by the incredible networking I got to do at the reception the first night. I met a woman who works at Google, one of the first female Account Executives at Leo Burnett who managed the Peter Pan and Keebles accounts (the advertising nerd in me was star-struck), and several business people who gave me lots of insight into marketing and branding. I also found out that Bob Schieffer, of the Schieffer School of Journalism, has IBD. Say what?!

Michael and I with Bob Schieffer!

Ally, me, and Katherine before the reception.

Lobbying was also very rewarding! I got to speak to numerous Texas politicians about IBD and about the CCFA and the need for research money. (If you're into politics: the CDC is in new hands and all of those hands are of former State Health Department leaders. This essentially means that they want to use CDC money solely to provide funding to state health departments, which is detrimental to research funding for chronic illnesses, something previously publicly funded only through the CDC.) I felt very official riding on the Senate subway, walking through the tunnels, and talking to staffers (mainly very attractive and intelligent college boys)!

After Day on the Hill, I spent some quality time with some grabbing dinner with Ally and Nick at the Froggy Bottom Pub (appropriate for a TCU student)!

I then spent the night on the George Washington with Ally! Ally is interning in D.C. this summer. We decided to go see all of the monuments at night, which was very cool! There were tons of middle school trips there, but I think we fit right in. We also hung out with some GW students in their fraternity houses! We avoided the Metro after the FBI evacuated me on my first day in town. Guess I look suspicious. I did pack for the entire trip in my Northface backpack which may have looked odd.

Me in the mall with the Washington Monument!

Go Frogs!

Abe and I are buddies.

Home sweet home!

On day two, we visited the Wax Museum and got lunch with Katherine before I headed to the airport. All in all, my mini-vacation was a great weekend get-away! I actually had a couple job opportunities mentioned in D.C. for July and may look into them if I can find decent housing. And if the groups still want me in a week...

This is an SOS.

The family is now headed to the lake for Memorial Day, so my next update will come from no place other than FORT WORTH, TEXAS!

The Waggoner sisters are water skiing beasts. Not really.

LOST

Thought I should take a moment to give a shout out to LOST. One year ago today, the best television show ever created ended in an epic, four-hour finale.

Take me back to the Island! Here's a great article I found on Twitter. (Follow me @kwagg326!)

See ya in another life brotha,
Kwaggs

Jobless

Most of you know that I am searching for a job in Memphis. However, I have little hope of finding one as I am in town for a little over a month. Here are my current ideas. If you have any more creative ideas, holler.

1. Work at McDonald's and make it a Sociology research project.
2. Take up my offer with "Vector" to walk door-to-door and sell knives in Memphis. Sounds safe.
3. Work at Palm Beach Tanning, which I morally can't do because I am opposed to helping people procure skin cancer.

But, you probably aren't interested in my job search, which primarily consists of watching episodes of Heroes on Netflix anyway. It's a seriously great show by the way.

You may be wondering what adventures we've been up to in the 901. Or maybe you aren't wondering that, so what are you doing on this page?

Number One: 

While dining at Panera the other day, Sylvia and I ran into some University of Memphis basketball players. Wesley Witherspoon was in front of us in line! I should probably now insert a shout-out to Claire Riley, as he is probably on her potential husband list. After our lunch, Sylvia and I hit up Shelby Farms to reminisce over our XC days at SMS. We did a lap around the lake and then walked the SMS track. We have several 5K's on the schedule for this summer and are trying to get ready!

Number Two:

My little sister, Elizabeth, is obsessed with the Food Network. AKA, when she heard that their new show "Food Trucks" was hitting Memphis, she wanted to go see the trucks. We found them last night at Overton Park by the Levitt Shell! Luckily for us, they were even filming. The concept of the food truck is very interesting. Maybe I'll open one for a summer project. Or perhaps I should stick to blogging and scrapbooking for the time being.

Okay, that's all for now. I am going to DC on Wednesday and need to pack!
Kswagg

M.E.M.P.H.I.S.

This week my friend from TCU (shout out to Luke Harville) sent me to the Urban Dictionary definition of his hometown, Houston. Knowing that Memphis is infinitely more ghetto that Houston, I decided to look up our definition too. It read as follows:

I much prefer the second entry. Makin' Easy Money Pimpin' Hoes In Style. However, that's not how I've been spending my summer. Which is a very, very good thing.

So how have I been spending my summer!?

ADVENTURE UNO: 

Last week, Sylvia, Jordan, and I decided to go to BBQ fest. Sylvia documented that adventure two posts below. Essentially, we decided to walk. About 20 minutes into the 45 minute walk, it started to rain. We decided to still give BBQ fest a chance and paid $8 only to realize that it wasn't much fun since we weren't 21 and didn't know anyone. Oh well, the walk was fun! Jordan and I still needed our BBQ fix though, so we headed to Central and split a BBQ nacho. Yum. 

ADVENTURE DOS:

ConGRADulations to the newest SMS Alumnae in the Waggoner Family! That's right, Susan graduated from St. Mary's Episcopal School on Monday. Between Baccalaureate (finally learned how to spell that one) and Graduation, she looked beautiful and the family had a blast. It was fun catching up with our middle school teachers after the ceremonies! 

  

Susan was even crazy enough to let me do her hair...

But, hey, SMS Graduation didn't quite compare to Booker T. Washington's ceremony where President Barack Obama spoke. It even trended on Twitter as "memprez." All I have to say is Memphis would make it "memprez" with a "z."

ADVENTURE TROIS (surprise, I actually took le Francais dans d'ecole):

On Thursday, Jordan, Natalie, Susan, and I went to check out Bon Jovi at the FedEx Forum. We found super cheap tickets on Groupon and enjoyed some sushi at Sekisui Midtown before the concert. I don't think I've ever seen a 60-something year old man dance like that. I also don't think it's a stretch to say that Bon Jovi is in insanely good shape for someone his age! He sang some great hits, including Living on a Prayer, but let's just say after nearly two hours of continuous singing, I won't be listening to Bon Jovi for a long, long time.

The Final Countdown

The adventure begins tomorrow upon Sylvia's arrival at Memphis International Airport around 1 o'clock in the afternoon! Once she's walking in Memphis, our Summer in the 901 will officially begin.

Until then, let's brush up on our Memphis knowledge. According to Wikipedia, Memphis was first occupied by the Mississippian people over 10,000 years ago. The Chickasaw Indians (Chickasaw Gardens anyone!?) then kicked them out and ruled the land until the Spaniards took over in the 1700s. In 1819, Memphis was founded by Andrew Jackson, John Overton, and James Winchester. Memphis grew quickly as a transportation hub on the Mississippi River and became a center for the cotton business. In the 1870s, a yellow fever epidemic ravaged the city. Luckily there were some pretty cool nuns by the names of Constance and Hughetta who sacrificed their lives to help the sick. (I think they also founded some school on Perkins and Walnut Grove too.) Today Memphis has a population of around 650,000. That means we are the 19th largest city in the United States! The city is well known for many things including Elvis, Beale Street, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Blues, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Some of my high school teachers might not be so keen on the use of Wikipedia here, but I bet you know more about Memphis than you did a few minutes ago!

Oh, and on a totally different note, who the heck knew there was a music video for Walking in Memphis!? Marc Cohn does a fabulous job of making the city look like a quaint country farm where little children run around barefoot singing Gospel hymns, but it's whatever. Hey, as long as he shows Sun Studio and sings his heart out whilst staring out windows, it is all good! Probably wouldn't have helped to include Beale Street... 

Also, exciting news! Obama announced today that Booker T. Washington won the "Race to the Top Commencement Challenge," meaning he will be delivering the school's graduation speech. Well done Booker T!

On that note I best go and finish cleaning my room. Feel free to come help if you'd like! 

Until tomorrow, BELIEVE MEMPHIS.

Watch Out Memphis

'Cause it's summer break. And you know what that means: DJSyl, Kswagga, and friends are back in the 9-oh-1, bored, jobless, and ready to entertain YOU!

This summer, we are making it our mission to tackle Memphis (and our boredom) head-on. With a handy list of ideas, we are going to do one Memphis thing a day.  Then we will provide you with stories and pictures of our experience!

If you have any ideas, let us know! Peace out and GO GRIZZ GO!

Love,  DJSyl and Kswagga